His Plan

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

HIS PLAN

Luke 4:16-21

16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,   19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."    20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 

NIV

We need to remember Jesus is still full of the power of the Spirit when he arrives in Nazareth, the town of his youth. He is not a stranger here, the towns people have watched Jesus as a young boy, perhaps playing in the streets. They had stopped by Joseph’s carpentry shop and saw Jesus as a young man working with, his supposed father. The men of Nazareth were with Jesus every Sabbath in the synagogue throughout his entire life before this moment. It is most likely Jesus had his turn reading from the scrolls before. They certainly were there at his Bar mitzvah when he had to read from the scrolls for the first time, and as he stood up to read this Sabbath, it is interesting the scroll of Isaiah was handed to Jesus to read. He did not pick the scroll, but merely found the place in it to read this prophetic portion. We might also consider the whole of what the prophet Isaiah said may not have been contained in just one scroll, so it could also have been that this particular scroll containing these particular words were handed to Jesus as he stood up, taking his turn to read. Of course we could focus on those prophetic words and how they point directly to Jesus, which is in fact what he says to them. But it is also interesting how God, the Spirit made sure that scroll was handed to Jesus by the attendant. The plan of God, the will of God will always be accomplished one way or another. We might think we have some say in the matter, which we do in our free will, which God gave us, but if we do not comply with his will, he will find another who will. If God’s plan is for us to do something specific and we refuse, thus not accomplishing his will, God will simply find another who will get that task done. In this case, if the specific attendant had not picked out that particular scroll, another person would have spoken up insisting that scroll be read. What we should see here is our need to make sure we are listening to the Spirit, which is if we want to be a part of God’s plan. Of course we could say that it is his plan we refuse so he will pick another, who is actually the one who is supposed to accomplish that plan in the first place, but then why were we given the plan to refuse in the first place? That line of thinking could go in to infinity. The point is God will accomplish his plan. This scroll was to be read and it was, so Jesus could tell them it was fulfilled in their hearing him read it, which meant it was about him. The point is God does have a plan for us as well, and we are where we are for a specific purpose at a specific time, so that his plan will be done.